Book Reviews : Politics: A Study of Control Behavior. By NEIL A. McDONALD. (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1966. Pp. 225. $7.50.)

• Date: 01 December 1966
• Author: David J. Mccormack
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296601900431
• Published date: 01 December 1966
• Subject Matter: Articles

754

limited

to

the

Spirit

of

the

Laws

will

recall

that

his

style

is

sometimes

epigrammatic

and

pungent,

and

at

other

times

desultory

and

formless.

In

the

present

work,

the

more

fortunate

aspects

of

Montesquieu’s

style

are

predominant.

The

book

will

of

course

be

useful for

anyone

who

wishes

to

understand

Montesquieu

better.

But

to

say

only

this

would

be

unfair.

The

book

is

worth

reading

for

its

own

sake.

One

must

agree

with

Lowenthal

that

the

Considerations

by

no

means

deserves

to

be

the

least

well

known

of

Montesquieu’s

works.

University

of

Arizona

PHILLIP

C.

CHAPMAN

Politics:

A

Study

of

Control

Behavior.

By

NEIL

A.

McDONALD.

(New

Brunswick:

Rutgers

University

Press,

1966.

Pp. 225.

$7.50.)

What

is

the

nature

of

political

behavior?

To

this

perennial

question,

Neil

A.

McDonald

addressed

himself,

and

his

labors

were

rewarded.

Like

several

of

his

colleagues,

the

author

has

become

disenchanted

with

the

utility

of

&dquo;power&dquo;

as

a

concept

for

explaining

the

essence

of

the

political

act.

For

him,

&dquo;deliberate&dquo;

or

&dquo;calculated

control&dquo;

is

a

more

dynamic

and

revealing

concept.

The

polity

is

an

&dquo;interaction

pattern&dquo;

or

control

system

through

which

the

good

life

is

sought;

and

politics

is

&dquo;that

class

of

acts

and

pattern

of

acts

that

seem

to

be

most

satisfac-

torily

explained

by

the

means

and

implications

of

controlling

the

more

remote

enr~ironment....&dquo;

Having

established

deliberate

control

of

the

remote

environment

as

the

essen-

tial

activity

of

the

polity,

McDonald

then

elaborates

on

the

general

concept

of

control.

Discussed

are:

(1)

the

basic

methods

of

control-coercion,

persuasion,

and

proof;

(2)

the

instruments

of

control-law,

agency

and

agent;

and

(3)

the

responses

and

resistances

to

control

efforts.

Yet,

it

is

the

initial

refinement

of

the

&dquo;calculated

control&dquo;

conceptualization

which

proves

to

be

the

author’s

most

fruitful.

Provocatively

he

explores

and

con-

trasts

the

object

of

political

control

(i.e.,

the

remote

environment)

with

the

respective

objects

of

economic

and

religious

control

the

proximate

and

ultimate

environment.

Whether

spatially,

temporally,

or

functionally

remote,

this

environ-

ment

contains

unknown

yet

vaguely

perceived

elements.

Their

ambiguity

makes

them

inimical

to

the

more

predictable,

immediate

environment

- that

which

is

known

by

direct

experience.

Hence,

we

have

allegiance

to

a

&dquo;polity&dquo;

or

control

system

which

holds

the

promise

of

neutralizing

nebulous

threats

(e.g.,

&dquo;communist

menace&dquo;).

But,

this

allegiance

often

requires

direct

and

tangible

sacrifices

(e.g.,

military

service)

for

rewards

or

returns

which

are

usually

indirect,

vague,

and

remote

(e.g.,

&dquo;victory&dquo; ) .

McDonald

has

formulated

an

original

and

meaningful

criterion

for

distinguish-

ing

the

politicalness

of

control

behavior.

However,

its

credibility

is

most

readily

demonstrated

in

international

affairs

-

the

most

purely

remote

environment.

More

applications

of

this

criteria

to

specific

acts

of

control

behavior

-

acts

which

approach

that

vague

border

between

the

proximate

and

remote

environment -

will

contribute

to

the

fortification

of

this

promising

conceptualization.

Washington

and

Jefferson

College

DAVID

J.

MCCORMACK